Cristina Orozco Cuevas-Lasso Decorative Textile

At Design Interviews

Interview with Cristina Orozco Cuevas : Frank Scott: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?. Cristina Orozco Cuevas : Experimenting on industrial jacquard machines with yarns and mixing techniques. Always looking to do something different, never repeat myself. .Frank Scott: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?. Cristina Orozco Cuevas : I wanted to make a textile with little bags to keep out little tools or jewelry. But on my way to discover the bags I came with another design: floated yarns with frayed appearance, but very strongly moored to the fabric. My aim for doing this kind of fabric experiments is to get something out of the blue. .Frank Scott: What are your future plans for this award winning design?. Cristina Orozco Cuevas : Publish it and share it with my clients in order to get more work and more business opportunities. Embrace the chance to get global exposure with my design studio and get clients worldwide. .Frank Scott: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?. Cristina Orozco Cuevas : It took me months to finally get the design indeed from the thinking and experimenting to the actual manufacturing. .Frank Scott: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?. Cristina Orozco Cuevas : I totally pursuit a risk experimenting on techniques half industrial and half hand made. .Frank Scott: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?. Cristina Orozco Cuevas : I already have a deal with one company in Mecico. It has already been commercialized on some catalogues and for other clients with pillows on department stores. .Frank Scott: What made you design this particular type of work?. Cristina Orozco Cuevas : Take challengues and new risks even when mills say no. .Frank Scott: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?. Cristina Orozco Cuevas : This particular work was a serendipia, so maybe indirectly some previous designs influenced just because of the acknowledge of diverse techniques helped me to solve this design. .Frank Scott: Who is the target customer for his design?. Cristina Orozco Cuevas : Decoration Professional Market: hotels, architects, designers, interior design studios.
Decoration Massive market: Department Stores .Frank Scott: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?. Cristina Orozco Cuevas : I have never seen a afbric like this before. It is strange, different, friendly to touch, if there is any light behind it fells very soflty, tenuous and nice. .Frank Scott: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?. Cristina Orozco Cuevas : I came with the idea that once I have these loose yarns woven horizontally which where cut at some point of the process. I thought about shoe lacing or something similar. I named it Lasso, which means a long rope with a running noose at one end used especially to catch horses and cattle. This names fits perfectly because the yarns look like very long but knotted by themselves, into the fabric and the released when they are cut. .Frank Scott: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?. Cristina Orozco Cuevas : I have to make with some engineers a special tool we named shutter kinfe of recycled metal parts of old looms; to cut the loose yarns on both ways: vertical and horizontal. In order to make a viable and affordable product.
I made the design on CAD special textile Sofware because I worked it on electronic industrial jacquard looms, which sometimes is kind of difficult beacuse when you design it into the computer as a drawing, the result specifically on this fabric has nothing to do. It was difficult to visualize how it would come out. .Frank Scott: What is the most unique aspect of your design?. Cristina Orozco Cuevas : The loose yarns which give different visual, feeling and functional aspects. It is rare to see products half industrial and half hand made. Normally these two things seem to be opposed. .Frank Scott: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?. Cristina Orozco Cuevas : I worked with the help of a textile engineer with the &quot;shuttlle knife&quot; to develop a special tool. Because as part of a finish, the cut part was difficult to do without taking costs very high, so we developed this special tool to get the efficiency and low cost of production. .Frank Scott: What is the role of technology in this particular design?. Cristina Orozco Cuevas : It is has practically a lot to do. this fabric cannot be woven without technology. .Frank Scott: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?. Cristina Orozco Cuevas : This design has to do with technique, weaves behavior and experimentation on woven jacquard fabrics. .Frank Scott: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?. Cristina Orozco Cuevas : Getting the fur aspect I wanted, be affordable to produce with a fair price, persuading the textile mill it would work on the looms and on the new finish process, plus into the decoration market get the interest in possible buyers. .Frank Scott: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?. Cristina Orozco Cuevas : Because I wanted my design to meet global competition. I already had taken some designs nationally and in Iberoamerican competitions. Now I think this is an opportunity to compete with the world, cause now we are designing for everyone. Also prove myself that my work is really valuable and works. This a big challenge for me. .Frank Scott: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?. Cristina Orozco Cuevas : I have learnt that there no impossibles if you take risks and of you do things, take actions instead just thinking them. .Frank Scott: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?. Cristina Orozco Cuevas : Being on this competition and getting two awards is another big watershed on my textile career. .